Bromley 13 Heathfield 9
Bromley eventually just defeated Heathfield in an entertaining game in which the lead changed hands four times.
Heathfield had first use of the slope and the stiff breeze which was mainly across but slanting towards the bottom corner.
Bromley started strongly and played some delightful rugby, retaining the ball through multiple phases before finally scoring a fine try in the top right hand corner. Soon afterwards their right winger had to retire hurt. Thereafter the home back line was generally contained by the Heathfield defence and they never again achieved the sort of penetration that they had showed initially.
Both sides used high kicks repeatedly throughout the game and on balance the home side were probably slightly more effective. The strong swirling wind made for a testing day for the kick receivers but there were notably few fumbles by either side in that situation.
Most of the first half was played in midfield with neither side reaching the opposition 22 for long as the defences proved efficient.
With ten minutes remaining in the half Jack Morgan knocked over a penalty from the home 10 metre line and soon afterwards added another one from rather shorter range for a half time score of 5-6.
Bromley generally had an edge in the scrummage which is an area where Heathfield have often been dominant this year with the same front row for all bar one game before today. Tom Cornwall was hooking in place of Dan Bird who thereby missed his first game of the season. Cornwall did well but it can take a while for a new front row combination to gell and Bromley have a young athletic pack who also took advantage of Reece Webb becoming increasingly handicapped by a muscle pull.
Initially the Bromley lineout misfired as they repeatedly and ambitiously threw long but this often went wrong to Heathfield’s benefit. Bromley don’t have many tall forwards and Henry Ross was able to disrupt plenty of their front ball.
With conditions in their favour Bromley will have been optimistic of securing a result in the second half. Indeed they retook the lead with a penalty after ten minutes.
Again most of the game was in midfield punctuated by extensive kicking exchanges. However approaching the end of the third quarter Heathfield started to build one of their most impressive forward drives seen this year. Starting near the home ten metre line the pack used close driving to hammer their way up the slope through multiple phases with excellent ball retention. All of the pack were heavily involved but Sam Crichton and Webb were especially noticed making hard yards. The attack was finally driven into touch a few metres out from the try line. When the ball was secured from the subsequent lineout Heathfield hopes were high but a penalty at the breakdown gave Bromley a means of escape and the opportunity seemed to be lost. However in the following kicking exchange Toby Simpson made good ground up the right flank before kicking ahead and following up to such good effect that Bromley conceded a penalty in their 22. Morgan duly collected the points to put Heathfield back in front.
Soon afterwards Bromley had a long range penalty chance to retake the lead but it drifted wide. Bromley used a penalty to achieve good field position in the bottom corner and a clinical lineout catch and drive gave them the game winning try. Heathfield have no problem with that – but the throw to that lineout was easily the least straight of the game so far – neither side had been penalised for not straight to that point. However two minutes later another Bromley lineout where the throw was straighter than most on the day was called back for not straight – to some disbelieving laughter from visiting supporters. We all need to see the laws being applied but consistency is essential.
With ten minutes remaining the wind strengthened even more bringing with it squalls of rain to make conditions miserable in the last minutes. There was some frantic play by both sides but Bromley held on to collect the win in a game which was well contested, indeed at times with some feisty exchanges.
It is a mark of how far this side has developed since at the end of 2019 they had been flirting with relegation and now regard a loss to a candidate for promotion as a disappointing result.
Bromley have a young and enthusiastic team who are having a fine season. Flanker Elliott Godden had a notably effective day, always just on the borderline as a good flanker should.
After a two week interval Heathfield resume their league campaign at home against Old Dunstonians who today jumped ahead of Heathfield in the league table (21 Mar 3.00).